This Fire team already knows the issues that plagued them during their loss to the ninth-place team in the Eastern Conference. They know that their inability to win games against lower-table teams has pushed them into a precarious position heading into the playoffs. Pause will pick his places to address the club, but now isn’t the time.

“I think that we all know that tonight just wasn’t good enough and we were off our game,” Pause told MLSsoccer.com. “We’re disappointed. We know that tonight was not a reflection of this team. These are games that you just try to forget about quickly.

The Fire hardly mustered an opportunity all game on Saturday against a team that has won just one game in their last fifteen.

After winning eight of nine games, the Fire have lost three of their last four. But after a big win in New York last weekend, Pause still thinks his team is a confident bunch.”

“It was just kind of blah,” Pause said. “Currently, we’re sitting in third place, and we’re a 17-win team, I just think we didn’t see that team tonight.”

All of a sudden, the Fire are in danger of dropping into the play-in game with a game against second-place D.C. United next Saturday.

“We still have a lot of work to do next Saturday against D.C,” Pause said. “We can still control our fate. I don’t think this loss is a direct reflection of what this team is about.”

The Fire haven’t lost four games in any five-game stretch all season. To avoid their season-worst stretch, Pause knows the Fire will have to forget about Saturday’s loss quickly.

“We don’t linger on these games,” Pause said. “We know we’re a better team. I think we saw that when we won in New York, I think we responded really well. We didn’t get the result that we wanted tonight, but we’ve got a chance to change that by finishing our last game at home.”